Financial Stewardship

Frankly, my own journey regarding financial stewardship is a simple one. I recall my Dad giving me a quarter to put in the plate on a Sunday morning and I just figured that it went off and did some good somewhere, maybe it bought the wine or something. It wasn’t until I joined the stewardship committee that I learned about how this really works, how many people benefited from my simple act of putting money in the plate, how many lives were impacted, how much good was being done.

This came home to me even more as I recently was exploring Chaos theory, and the idea of “subtle influence”. Subtle influence is famously illustrated by meteorologist Edward Lorenz, echoing a Chinese proverb asking, “Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil touch off a tornado in Texas?” Because weather is a chaotic system, even small changes or influences can have a major impact somewhere else in the system.

Subtle influence works in life too, suggesting that giving a smile, rather than flipping the finger at a driver who cuts you off, will make a big difference somewhere else if not immediately.

My own journey with Stewardship generally, and financial stewardship particularly has led me to the conclusion that every dollar makes a difference; every dollar has a subtle influence potential. Every dollar given with love and thankfulness especially has the potential to make a real difference to someone.

Someone might be moved to a new insight about their relationship with their partner, listening to the choir sing at Compline, thanks to a dollar. Another might be fed the first warm meal in a week, because of a dollar, another might learn something new in conversation with a priest, because of a dollar; someone in the diocese might come to a new understanding in conversation at a hospital bed, because of a dollar; another might be able to live in affordable housing; another person in the Church in the North hears a sermon that changes their life, because of the subtle influence of a dollar.

Subtle influence, that’s what financial stewardship means to me.

 This article first appeared in the Christ Church Cathedral parish weekly bulletin.